PULLMAN, Wash. Veterans of network television and of nationwide marketing campaigns are among Washington State University alumni recently inducted into The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication Alumni Hall of Achievement.
They include:
* CBS News correspondent Peter Van Sant, who graduated in communication in 1975. He has earned Emmy Awards for reports about: terrorists destroying a Russian school; the social and economic collapse of Albania; medical helicopter crashes; and famine in North Korea. He reported extensively on the collapse of the Soviet Union and has covered the first Persian Gulf War, German reunification and famine in Africa.
* CBS News and ABC News reporter Barry Serafin, who graduated from WSU in 1964. He earned an Emmy for work on the Watergate White House transcripts. He covered scandals leading to the resignations of Vice President Spiro Agnew and President Richard Nixon. He covered the Iranian hostage crisis, the Falklands and Persian Gulf wars, hurricanes and presidential campaigns.
* Nicole Mirante Matthews, a 1992 graduate in broadcast communication. She is co-executive producer and writer for the CBS program NCIS (formerly Naval Criminal Investigative Service), among the most-watched television drama series. She has worked on USA Network’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent, ABC’s The Nine, Showtime’s Huff and Lifetime’s Any Day Now.
* Guy Seese, who graduated with a communication degree in 1992. His advertising campaigns for Nike, Target, Evian, Saturn, Volvo, Motorola, Coca Cola and Gallo Wines have become part of pop culture. He led a team promoting Rainier Beer, which included ads featuring beer bottle-shaped wildlife characters that roamed in the Northwest – the so-called “running of the Rainiers.”
* Craig Dewey, a 1972 Murrow graduate. He retired in 2009 as executive vice president of merchandising and marketing for Norm Thompson Outfitters, a national direct marketing company headquartered in Hillsboro, Ore.
* DJ Wilson, who graduated in 1974 in communication. She has been president and general manager of KGW Media Group in Portland, Ore., since 2007. She was vice president and assistant general manager of KING-TV, KONG-TV and NorthWest Cable News in Seattle. She is former president and general manager of KREM-TV and KSKN-TV in Spokane. She also worked at television stations in Atlanta, Detroit and Birmingham, Ala.
She served two terms on the WSU Foundation Board of Governors and chairs the Murrow College Professional Advisory Board.